


Recovering

by prussianblue7



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-17
Updated: 2013-02-17
Packaged: 2017-11-29 13:24:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/687454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prussianblue7/pseuds/prussianblue7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor crash-lands on 21st century Earth, regenerates, and desperately tries to recover from the Time War with help from Timothy Jones, Major Carter, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, and Jenny Sigma.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Recovering

**Author's Note:**

> I've always wanted to do a story after the Time War so here goes! I've added some original characters that I thought would make the story a bit more interesting and also put in some lines for Jenny. (A future incarnation's daughter for those of you who don't already know) This is my fist fan fic on this website so wish me luck! And please no hurtful comments!!!

Jones paced up and down the street, looking for any sign of anything… strange. Of course he had to be on duty when U.N.I.T’s machines picked up a Time Shift. So now he was stuck pacing the deserted street, bored out of his mind and looking for alien stuff. Jones yawned.  
“Over here mate!” his partner, Corporal Sam Hahn called, “I reckon I’ve found something!”  
“I’m coming Corporal, but this had better be good.” Jones shouted back, walking to see what it was.  
“How, Corporal, is this an important part of our investigation?” Jones said, exasperatedly looking at the so called “alien thing”.  
“Well sir, it wasn’t there a minute ago,” Hahn defended, “then there was this awful wheezing and it appeared out of nowhere!”  
“Hmmm…’ Jones mumbled as the two U.N.I.T. soldiers stared bemused at the blue box in front of them.  
…………………………………………  
“A blue box.”  
“Yes sir!” the two soldiers said  
“And it appeared out of thin air.”  
“Yes sir!”  
Major Carter sighed.   
“I’ll check our records.”  
………………………………………….  
Major Carter knocked on the large door of the fairly large house.  
“Yes?” said an impatient man with a mustache “oh, U.N.I.T? I thought that when I retired I got rid of the lot of you.”  
“Yes,” said the major, “but we found a rather interesting artifact and our records say that you are the closest person we have to its owner.”  
“What artifact would this be?”   
“A blue box.”  
The look on the old brigadier’s face went from annoyance to surprise.  
“Alright, I’m coming.”

“Here it is!” Jones said to Major Carter and the Brigadier,  
“It looks rather more torn up since I last saw it,” Commented the Brigadier,  
“Looks like the old fellow hasn’t been taking very good care of the poor ship.”  
He was right. The blue box or whatever it was burned or scratched. It was chipped and some of the paint was peeling off, not to mention the light on top of the box was out.  
“Ship?” Jones said, confused,  
“Yes!” The Brigadier snapped “Haven’t you been listening?”  
“Sorry sir.”  
Major Carter tried the door.  
“It’s locked. Who locks a police box?”  
“He does,” The Brigadier answered, “Which makes it good that I happen to have my own key,” He unlocked the door and stepped inside, “come on then, let’s see if he’s home. Oh, and Major, you may want to warn young Jones there.”  
“Warn me about what?” Jones said, more confused than ever  
“You’ll figure it out.” The Major answered, opening the door. He coughed as smoke poured out of the door. Once the smoke cleared he stepped inside.  
“It’s bigger on the inside!” Jones exclaimed. Everyone ignored him.  
“What the hell happened here?” Major Carter wondered aloud. It looked like a bomb had gone off. The normally elegant, tidy, warm, lit-up interior was now freezing cold and completely wrecked. Books were thrown every which way along with random tools and machine parts. There was a huge crack running down the Dimensional Stabilizer and onto the console.  
“Something’s wrong.” Jones said quietly,  
“Just figured that out did you?” The Brigadier replied with sarcasm. Suddenly the Major called them over,  
“I’ve found someone. I think he’s unconscious.” Jones and the Brigadier picked their way over to the Major.  
“If it is the Doctor it’s not one I’ve met before.” The Brigadier mused,  
“I’ll do a medical check. I was an EMT before I joined U.N.I.T.” Jones said eagerly. He bent down to get a closer look. The man was half buried under a bookshelf (which the Brigadier soon lifted off). He had longish, wavy brown hair and an aristocratic look to him. He was wearing a frock coat that might have once been fashionable but was now torn and singed and had several holes. Just by looking Jones could tell that the poor man was covered from head to toe in cuts, bruises, and burns. He even had a large scar running down one arm and, interestingly, handcuff marks around his wrists. Jones pulled out his med-kit. Heart was beating normally but when he touched the man, his skin was burning hot! He could have sworn that he received a burn just from touching him!  
“Ouch!”  
Major Carter bent down next to him, “What?”   
“He burned me!” Jones exclaimed, “He seems okay, no fatal damage, heart and breathing sound fine, he’s got some serious burns though, and he’s really hot, beyond fever. I wonder what happened to him.”  
The brigadier snorted, “Knowing him, could be anything. Hold on, did you say his heart was beating?”  
“Yeah, why?” Jones replied,  
“He’s got two hearts, if one is out, then he could be in serious danger.”  
……………………………………………..  
“Explain it to me again.” Jones said to the Major on the ride back to U.N.I.T. Headquarters,  
“The Doctor is an alien called a Time Lord. He comes from the planet Gallifrey, he drives a ship called a T.A.R.D.I.S., and he has two hearts. Clear?”  
“Crystal, I think.”  
“Good, because we’ve arrived at HQ,” Interrupted the Brigadier  
The three men unloaded the Doctor from the back (which was where the high tech alien ambulance stuff was) and into U.N.I.T. headquarters, in London.  
“Hello Major, Jones, what have you got there? Oh, hello Brigadier, haven't seen you here in a while.” Said the amazing Jenny Sigma, U.N.I.T.’s current alien technology expert. Nobody really knew where she got the knowledge from, but then again, nobody really cared so long as she did her job and did it well.   
“Jenny, go post that we have a Code 9. Got that? A Code 9,” The Major ordered  
“Sure thing Major! See you Jones!” she replied, running off with her ponytail bouncing behind her  
“Sometimes that girl can be a bit too enthusiastic,” Major Carter sighed once she rounded the corner  
“Reminds me of the Doctor sometimes,” The Brigadier mused.  
Once the Doctor was safely in a bed in U.N.I.T.’s, medical ward the Major and the Brigadier relaxed. Jones, slightly less relaxed, was still wondering why, if the Doctor was badly injured, they weren’t doing anything to help.   
“If he can get his right heart started he’ll be fine,” The Major attempted to explain,  
“How will he do that on his own?”  
“He’s a Time Lord; they’re all phenomena if you ask me.” The Brigadier snorted,  
“What the Brigadier means is that the Doctor’s not human, we don’t really know what would help him or what would hurt him,” The Major clarified “Whatever he needs, he’ll have to do it himself.”  
After ten minutes, the Brigadier started pacing, the Major stared out the open window, deep in thought, and Jones constantly checked the Doctor’s pulse to see if there was a double beat. A moment later Jones turned quickly to face the others, panic in his face,   
“I can’t get a pulse! The Doctor’s dead!”  
“Hmmm. Maybe he’ll get a decent sense of authority this time,” The Brigadier said in his usual brusque tone,  
“But he’s dead!” Jones protested,  
“Yes, I heard you, and it certainly wouldn’t be the first time.”  
“But-“  
“Jones, have you heard about regeneration?” The Major asked Jones calmly,  
“No, what is it?”  
“You’re about to find out.”  
The Doctor began to don a sort of gold light. The light got brighter and brighter until it was so bright that Jones had to shade his eyes. Once the spots had faded from his eyes, Jones noticed that the Doctor was not only alive once more, but that he had completely changed his appearance. He now had close-cropped, dark hair and a serious complexion. Instead of thirties, he now looked like he was more in his fifties. He was the skinniest man Jones had ever seen with a bony, shallow face.  
“He looks different.” Jones said simply,  
“Yes, that’s the beauty of regeneration for you,” The Brigadier said sarcastically  
Suddenly the Doctor jolted upright and yelled out a name,  
“Romana!”  
He then slumped back against the pillows, apparently unconscious once more.  
“I trust that you can guard him until he wakes up?” The Major asked Jones  
“I suppose so,” Jones said resignedly   
“Good, come along Brigadier, I’ll make some tea. Call us if he wakes.” And with that the two men left the room, leaving Jones with an unconscious man. The Doctor was tossing about in bed, mumbling in his sleep. Most of the words were unintelligible, but the few that Jones could understand, he wrote down.  
Dalek, Romana, Gallifrey, Time War, Rassilon, Davros, Time Bomb, Skaro, Arcadia, Lord President, Inquisitor General. None of it made much sense, but judging by the way the Doctor was thrashing about, those were some hefty nightmares. About an hour later Jones realized that the Doctor was no longer making any noise. He turned around to find the Doctor staring at him with dead, blank, gray eyes, masking the emotions that lay beneath.  
“Hello.” Jones said, trying to make a conversation. The Doctor said nothing.  
“Erm, My name’s Timothy Jones, most call me Jones though… I suppose you’re the Doctor?” The doctor said nothing.  
“You’re in the medical ward at U.N.I.T. Headquarters, in case you wanted to know…” The doctor said nothing, but Jones thought he saw a flicker of recognition when he said “U.N.I.T.” The Doctor then turned back around and appeared to go back to sleep.  
“Well I brought you these just in case,” Jones hung some clothes over a chair and left the room to report to Major Carter.  
………………………………………….  
As soon as Jones left the room the Doctor got slowly to his feet, changed clothes, and walked unsteadily out of the room. He walked barefoot through the twisting hallways, trying to find a way out before he collapsed. He could feel his head spinning. His vision was going blurry. And then, all at once, the doctor collapsed on the ground, and lay still.  
…………………………………………..  
   
Jones came in to the room where Major Carter and the Brigadier were lounging.  
“The doctor’s up Sir, or at least, he was when I left him, I think he may have gone back to bed.”  
“Alright, I think I had better go see him, he’ll have regeneration shock and I want to make sure he doesn’t wander off.” The Brigadier said, standing up. Suddenly the phone began to ring.  
“Yes? I see. I’ll be there right away. No you may not go back to work! Stay there until I get there, got that? Goodbye.” The Major turned back to face Jones.  
“Well, you’re a bit late Brigadier, the Doctor’s been found three floors down. He must have been exploring.”  
“Let’s go see him then shall we?” The Brigadier said, leading the way out the door.  
………………………………………..  
“We just found him, lying unconscious in corridor C4. No ID on him, just a random man, wandering around HQ!” A confused soldier explained to the Major,  
“Captain?” The Major said, shaking his head,  
“What?”  
“This man is our Code 9.”  
The soldier’s mouth gaped like a goldfish.  
“Did you put a guard on him like I told you to?”  
“Yes sir, of course,”  
“Good,”  
Major Carter stepped into the room with the other three men close behind.  
They walked in just as the Doctor began to stir. The Brigadier sat in a chair across from the Doctor. The Doctor struggled weakly against the two men guarding him for a brief moment but he was no match for two trained U.N.I.T. soldiers in his current state. He gave up and slouched in his chair, breathing heavily. The Doctor’s eyes focused on the Brigadier and his blank mask disappeared for a moment as he recognized his old friend.  
“Hello again Doctor, how many regenerations has it been? One? Two? More?”  
“Four” The Doctor replied in a deep voice, hoarse from smoke inhalation and lack of use. The Doctor hesitated; he put a hand to his face and then lowered it.  
“Five.” He corrected  
“What brought you to Earth?” The Brigadier said, quickly getting to the point,  
“Crashed,” the Doctor answered simply,  
“Yes, I figured that out. How?”  
“Bomb.” The Doctors face filled with guilt, warning the Brigadier to change the subject.  
“I assume the Time Lords are just as silly as ever?” This had always been the Doctor’s favorite topic; he loved nothing more than to complain about his race.  
“No.” Instead of going on and on about exactly how stupid the Time Lords were, the Doctor kept his reply short. The Brigadier could sense that there was more to this reply than the Doctor was telling him.  
“You haven’t been sighted on Earth in over a year, this used to be your favorite planet. What’s kept you away, and all the alien threats, for that matter?”  
“Busy,” The Doctor shrugged  
“You look terrible. Is that regeneration or something else?”  
“Yes.” The Brigadier ignored this non-answer and stood up,  
“I’ll help you back to your room Doctor. I think we’re done talking for the moment.” The Doctor nodded slowly, and then allowed the Brigadier to help him up. The two men walked down the hall with the Doctor leaning gratefully on the Brigadier for support.  
…………………………………………  
The Brigadier, Major Carter, and Jones sat down in the cafeteria with some tea and biscuits.  
“I’ve read all the Doctor’s records and none of his regenerations have been quite like this. I don’t suppose you could shed some light on the subject, Brigadier?” The Major said in a hushed voice to keep away any unwanted attention.  
“Well, I don’t know for sure, but I have several theories.” The Brigadier replied, taking a bite out of a biscuit,  
“My main theory is that prior to his regeneration, the Doctor had been involved in a large, both mentally and physically trying event that caused him to have a darker, more reserved personality.”  
“Like what?” Jones interrupted,  
“I suspect it may have been a war. A large, very tough war. The fact that he is very weak is either lasting effect from this previous event or Regeneration Shock.”  
“Which is,” Jones said impatiently,  
“Regeneration Shock is a sort of sickness that Time Lords get after regeneration. For the first fifteen hours or so after regeneration Time Lords are left weakened, often sleeping for most of it. He’s still trying to rebuild his system from whatever killed him. Also, his previous personalities and memories need to sort of, sink in become part of his new personality. Once he could barely remember who he was for almost twelve hours. Other times he’s gone a bit… Crazy I suppose. It helps considerably once he actually sees himself in the mirror and gets to know his own face. I probably should have given him one by now. Perhaps I’ll have Jenny drop one off for me. I plan on going home, taking a shower, and going to bed. I went into retirement for a reason. I’ll come back tomorrow to make sure everything’s okay.”  
“Good afternoon Brigadier.” Jones said politely as the Brigadier got up to leave,  
“Yes, good afternoon.” And with that the Brigadier walked out of the room.  
…………………………………….  
The Doctor woke up feeling slightly better than he had the night before. He got up and paced around the room for a bit before sitting on the bed and bouncing a few times. He looked up as a soldier came in the door with a tray in his hands.  
“Breakfast for you, um, Sir.” He flustered as the Doctor glared at him from where he was sitting. The poor man quickly put the tray down and rushed out of the room. The Doctor resumed pacing. Just a few minutes later a young woman strolled in and sat on the bed. The Doctor kept pacing like a caged animal.  
“I wish you’d stop that. It’s quite distracting, plus, I’m supposed to talk with you, not watch you. Haven’t you eaten anything?” She babbled quickly without stopping for breath. The Doctor stopped pacing and stared at her uncomprehendingly. He had thought that only he could talk like that.  
“I’m Jenny, technically a friend of mine named me Jenny and my dad added on Theta, Koshei, Sigma. After himself and his best friend, he said. So I suppose I’m Jenny, Theta, Koshei, Sigma. I think that’s really long so I just call myself Jenny Sigma. U.N.I.T. doesn’t know that though so keep quiet about it. That probably didn’t make any sense did it? Oh well.” Jenny stopped for breath again giving the Doctor enough time to come up with a response.  
“But that’s me.” He said carefully,  
“Who’s you? I mean of course you’re you but I mean what do you mean by “that’s me?”  
“I’m Theta Sigma,”  
“I thought you were the Doctor?” she challenged  
“I’m not much of a doctor after what I’ve done.”  
“How so?”  
“It’s a very long story,”  
“Good thing I like long stories then! Go on,”  
The Doctor took a deep breath and began to talk, and talk, and talk  
……………………………………………..  
“Yes!” the Major said, hi-fiving a bewildered Jones as they watched the scene developing from the security booth.  
“What?” Jones replied, eager to be in on the joke,  
“I told you that Jenny could get information out of anyone! Next thing you know the Doctor will be speaking in complete sentences! This is the most he’s talked since he woke up yesterday! It’s brilliant!”  
“I suppose so,” Jones said evenly, “But I didn’t know that was Jenny’s real name, did you? Next thing we know she’ll say she’s from some planet in the middle of Andromeda!”  
“All the same it’s brilliant!” they slapped a hi-five again.  
……………………………………..  
As Jenny asked questions, and the Doctor answered them, his story began to unravel.  
“I was born on the planet Gallifrey, in the constellation of Kasterborous. When I was a Time Tot I looked up at the stars in the dull orange night sky and I wanted to be there, with the stars. I got my wish, I was looked down upon by even the lowest of the low back on Gallifrey but I didn’t care. I had fulfilled my dream and reached the stars. One day a friend of mine, Romana, called me back to Gallifrey. She was Lord President of Gallifrey and she needed my help. Davros, a ruler of a different race called the Daleks, had been captured and was on trial for mass murder. The Daleks weren’t very happy about that and used it as an excuse to declare war on my race. Three days later Arcadia fell, a massive planet alive with millions of people. There were only thirty four survivors by the end of that battle, and that was only the beginning. The Time War lasted more than a hundred years. Whole civilizations, whole planets fell and disappeared. More than 300 species went extinct. Eventually Davros died, swallowed by the Nightmare Child along with half his ships and some of ours as well. I tried to save him but he wanted to die, if only to prove me wrong, that there could be peace in the universe. The war continued but Romana and I had a plan. A desperate plan just in case the Time Lords fell. We never thought we would have to use it. But Romana was overthrown by the Council and Rassilon was elected Lord President. Rassilon, too, had a plan. He planned to tear all of time and space apart so that the Time Lords would win the war. They were planning to end time itself just to bask in their own glory. I had to stop them. Romana and I got the parts for the Time Bomb. We were going to take down the Daleks once and for all. We soon reached an obstacle though; we couldn’t get rid of the Daleks without killing the Time Lords as well. We put the Time Bomb into the Eye of Harmony, hoping the war would end in our favor before we could use it. It didn’t. Romana went out of the TARDIS to say her goodbyes to Gallifrey but she got caught. I knew that if I waited any longer it would be too late, so pressed the button, and Romana was forced to watch as Gallifrey burned, taking the Daleks and Skaro with it. I watched Gallifrey and Skaro fall from my TARDIS, and then everything exploded. That’s all I remember. Nobody won that war, Davros was right. Now I’m the only survivor of the Time War; I’m the last of the Time Lords.  
“Well, you’ve never told it like that before Da, um, Doctor,” Jenny babbled,  
“That was the first time I told anyone so unless you have a very naughty vortex manipulator… did you just almost call me Dad?”  
“Yeah, you’re a lot alike, you and my dad,” Jenny replied.   
Suddenly the Doctor began yelling at the ceiling,  
“Come on out, I know you’re watching us and I prefer to see people face to face when I talk with them,”  
A few minutes later a sheepish Jones came in with Major Carter,  
“How did you figure that out?” The Major said, bewildered,  
“I find it a bit obvious that when there’s a security camera in the room, chances are there’s someone watching you,” The Doctor smirked, showing a bit of his old personality,  
“Yes I suppose that makes sense. I keep forgetting that you’re cleverer than the average human.”  
“What? Does this regeneration not look clever enough,” The Doctor said, offended “Speaking of which, I still haven’t seen myself. I don’t suppose any of you would have a mirror?”  
“Right here,” Jenny dug through her pockets tossing out a flock of paper clips, an ID card, some safety pins, three magnets, a package of jelly babies, and finally, a mirror.  
“Thanks, that will do nicely,”  
For the first time since regeneration he got a good look at himself and whistled.  
“Big ears, that’s for sure, and short hair, that’ll take some getting used to. Never had short hair before. Do you know how strange it is to wake up one morning and look completely different? ‘Course you don’t, none of you are Time Lords. Regeneration, the most brilliant adaptation since evolution began, and certainly the strangest. I still wonder why I’m never ginger though,”  
“Ah, there you are,” The Brigadier said, walking in on the strange scene, “The receptionist told me you were all in here, nice girl. You’re looking much better today Doctor.”  
“I feel much better too,” The Doctor broke off in a fit of coughing as gold mist spewed out of his mouth. The Doctor sat heavily on the floor, breathing hard,  
“That’ll be the last of the regeneration energy leaving my system. It’s been fifteen hours since I regenerated and I’m good to go!” He explained. He seemed to be more jovial now, but if you looked you could see the pain and guilt, grief and sorrow in his haunted eyes, The Doctor stood up to leave only to find Jenny blocking his way out,  
“You’re forgetting a few things,”  
“Like what?”  
“For starters, you forgot to say thank you to Major Carter, Jones, and the Brigadier, they brought you here and took care of you while you were still unconscious,” She began “Also, you haven’t eaten anything, not to mention you have no idea where your TARDIS is, and nobody’s told the Brigadier what you accidentally told the rest of us.. I think that’s it,”  
The Doctor scowled like a naughty child. He said thank you to everyone (completely ignoring Jenny), and picked up a banana from the tray. He then left with the Brigadier and Jones close behind.  
“Jones, I want you to show the Brigadier the video-file, then immediately delete it. Also, it wouldn’t go amiss if the two of you could take me to my TARDIS,” He took a bite out of the banana.  
“Sure,” Jones replied eagerly, “But I must know, why the banana?”  
“Bananas are good. Plus, I have two hearts; I can use the extra potassium.”  
“I can understand that,”  
“Doctor, there was a small matter I was hoping you could assist us with,” The Brigadier began,  
“I’m a busy man Brigadier,” The Doctor replied dismissively  
“Well here’s your TARDIS then,” The Brigadier said moodily. They stepped inside to find that the TARDIS had redecorated herself. She now had a warm, comforting sort of feeling. She was brightly lit so that you could see large branched pillars going from the floor to the ceiling of the console room. The dimensional stabilizer was now a friendly blue and the walls were plated with a bronze metal with small holes that emitted a warm glow. The console had all the manner of strange mechanisms attached to it that the Doctor immediately began fiddling with. The console began to emit a small beeping noise and a small silver stick with a blue light came up from one of the panels.  
“Thanks old girl,” the Doctor said, picking up his brand new sonic screwdriver and testing it out. He winced as the TARDIS berated him with questions telepathically while he answered as best as he could,  
“What was that about?” said a wide-eyed Jones  
“Oh that was the TARDIS. She’s mad at me for abandoning her to clean up on her own and she’s a little cross about the time lock. Apparently we’re stuck in 21st century England for a week.”  
“So you can help us with our little problem then,” the Brigadier said “We’re having some trouble with Autons,”  
………………………………………………..  
A day and a half later the Doctor was walking out of the TARDIS, which he had parked in an alley near his destination: a large department store. He walked in and hid himself in a maintenance closet until the store closed. Then he crept into the lift with a homemade bomb at the ready. He entered the room where his Timey-Wimey Detector seemed to think the Autons were hiding. He entered the room where the store kept its window-dummies when he heard someone scream. He quickened his pace until he found the source, a young woman being cornered by the Autons. He sidled up beside the blonde girl and said one word,  
“Run”


End file.
